Chapter 6
She ran up the stairs quickly. Her heart was hammering like it was trying to escape her body and she tripped on every second step, but she didn't slow down; she had too much adrenaline to keep still. She reached the entrance for the Ravenclaw tower and swore silently to herself, the door wasn't open. She nervously hopped from one foot to the other as she banged on the door and waited for the eagle to say the riddle.
"Give me food and I will live, give me water and I will die. What am I?"
Rose swore again. "A. . . cactus?" she asked hopefully, saying the first thing that popped into her head. She was rubbing her hands together and hopping from foot to foot, anxious that she was going to get delayed by the stupid door.
The eagle knocker was silent and Rose groaned. She hated answering riddles and she didn't have to time to think of the correct response.
"Please open up, this is important," she begged the eagle and was actually surprised when the door started to open.
It was just a Second Year leaving though, not the eagle actually listening to her. Rose caught the door with her hand and ran inside, ignoring everyone who gave her glares for making excessive noise in the common room. She raced up the stairs to the Seventh Year Girls dormitory and opened the door with a bang. She breathed a sigh of relief, her friend was all alone in the room.
"Whitney, Whitney! Guess what?" she exclaimed, running over to her. Whitney raised an eyebrow at her.
"I couldn't begin to fathom what on Earth you want me to guess," she drawled lazily as she flicked a page of her textbook over.
"Well. . . remember who I wanted to go with to the Hogwarts dance?" Rose said grinning as she hopped onto Whitney's bed and jumped in the air a few times, causing Whitney to put her hands on her bed to stable herself.
Whitney gave a disbelieving smile and stared at Rose. "No. . ." she said, but when Rose nodded with a maniacal grin on, Whitney stood up and said again, more enthusiastically, "NO!" she squealed and jumped a few times with Rose, their hair flying up around their faces.
"When? How? What did he say? What did you say!"
Rose jumped in the air one more time and then folded her legs under her as she landed with a thump on the bed. "Oh, you sure you don't want to do your homework? You seemed pretty intent on it before," Rose said slyly.
Whitney sat beside Rose with a thump and rolled her eyes. "Oh give me a break, you come running in here every day like that, how was I to know you actually had something interesting this time?"
"Hey!" Rose stated. "I always have interesting things!"
"Yeah, sure. . . " Whitney said. "Anyways, spill!" She inched forwards and looked intently at Rose.
Rose grinned and then stood up and got off the bed. "AH! Alright, so. . . " she said as she paced beside the bed walking to the end and back.
"I went to the library to find some book for Herbology and I noticed Scorpius and Al studying. Al called me over for a chat when he noticed me hovering in between aisles and I sat down for a little bit and was talking with them, well mostly Al I guess. Then somehow the spring dance was mentioned and Al said Scorpius didn't have a date yet for it!"
"Really - you asked him with Al there?" Whitney asked.
Rose paused in her steps and then shook her head, walking to the end of the bed and turning around again. "No! Don't jump to conclusions Whit! Al had to leave to go the kitchens because he wanted to eat or cook or something and it was just me and Scorpius awkwardly sitting at the table. Then he said he had to head back to the Gryffindor common room and I asked if I could carry his books there. He said yes!"
"Woah, that is so like you to do something like that. So backwards from custom! " Whitney laughed.
"Well it was a good reason I thought! I just wanted to walk with him! He could have said no, but he didn't. So I took his books and then we walked to the Gryffindor tower."
"And he didn't call you Spider, or The Abdominal Weasley, or Freckle Face or pull your hair?" she asked.
"No he didn't! Well I wouldn't have noticed it if he did I guess, I was so happy and nervous and my heart was beating so fast. Even now, I just can't stop moving! Look at my hands, they're shaking!" Rose said quickly, holding out her hands for Whitney to see.
Whitney raised her eyebrows and gave a laugh. "Remember to breath, and calm down a bit, we don't want you to have a heart attack because of stress or anything! What happened next?"
Rose threw her hands in the air. "We reached the common room! And I took the books to the table he indicated and dropped them off. Then he stood there looking at me and I managed to ask through lots of stuttering if he wanted to go to the dance with me. He said yes! And then I got nervous and ran away! And I ran straight here!"
"Damn girl, sounds like you and Scorpius will be dates for the dance then!" Whitney smiled.
Rose hopped on the spot and flung her hands in the air."I know, I know!"
"He was for real though, right? You're meeting him at the dance or something?"
Rose shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, I didn't think to ask before I ran. But I imagine I would just meet him there. I mean Ravenclaw tower is way on the other side of the castle from Gryffindor, it would be a far walk to come over here."
"Such an inconvenience for him. . . " Whitney said. "This is so exciting though! And funny! We're acting like we're thirteen again, instead of seventeen! Aren't we supposed to be the eptiome of mature as seventh years and not act like teenage girls?"
"I have been waiting for this since I was pretty much thirteen! I will act how I please," Rose said and she fell on the bed with her arms spread out. Whitney poked her in the ribs and Rose scrunched up in a ball, laughing.
"You and Scorpius sitting in a tree. . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G. . . "
Rose whacked Whitney on her ribs. "Shush! You're going to jinx it!"
"Yeah right," Whitney sighed. "After Hogwarts you guys are going move in together, and then get married and then have giant babies with curly hair, and then grow old together. It's so romantic."
Rose's cheeks turned red. "Noooo, I don't think so. . . "
"Oh Rose, you've loved the guy forever. It's practically destined. Can I be just Whitney to all your kidlets, and not Aunt Whitney? Aunt Whitney sounds so old fashioned."
"Blimey, I'm not having kids right now! That's so far away," Rose stated.
"It's going to come sooner than we think," Whitney said seriously. "Are you going to wear dress robes instead of wearing your school uniform for the dance? I think you should and it should be brown robes, it'll match your eyes and hair."
"Sure," shrugged Rose, spreading herself back out on Whitney's bed to stare at the ceiling.
"No, wait, it's springtime, maybe you should wear a bright colour. . . like blue, or green?"
"Sure, whatever," Rose said again.
"Hmmm, damn, I'm horrible at this fashion stuff. Maybe I should owl my sister to see what she says. . . " Whitney said, trailing off in thought.
"You're better than me with the fashion crap and I honestly don't care what I wear, I'm going with Scorpius, that's all that matters," Rose said as if saying it multiple times would further confirm the fact.
Whitney sighed happily. "I can already tell the end of the year is going to be awesome! We have the dance in two weeks; you're going with Scorpius, and I'm going with Jacob, and then the next big thing is the Quidditch final between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, and then we are officially done Hogwarts in one month! Then you'll be starting that job at the ministry your mom hooked you up with and I'll be working at the Flourish and Blotts in Leeds, and I'll marry Jacob and then you and Scorpius are going to get married after that. . ."
"Mhmm," Rose agreed, only half listening to her. "Though not the marrying part Whit, honestly. . . "
Whitney chuckled and then her eyes roamed to her textbook that had been kicked to the ground. "Shit!" she exclaimed, frantically picking it up. "I need to get back to studying! Brief interlude of boy gushing over. Don't talk to me anymore."
Whitney returned herself to the bed and immediately started reading while Rose laid next to her, still staring at the ceiling.
Rose was lost in thought. She couldn't believe the turn of events. Her and Scorpius. HER and Scorpius. It seemed surreal, she had been in love with him for years now, it seemed, though secretly of course. Only Whitney knew and she had been threatened by death if she told. She felt that the cards were finally falling into place. She always seemed to mess up everything, whether it had been school assignments, trying out for Quidditch, or getting getting along with her parents. Maybe for once, something would work out right for her.
Even though she had asked, she had been somewhat surprised that Scorpius said yes. Usually he dated and hung out with girls who were. . . well, different than her. Certainly not girls standing just over six feet with hair they rarely brushed! No, Scorpius always seemed to pick girls with impeccable taste and fashion, girls that could easily fit right into his arms. Definitely not similar to her, but Rose didn't even care to think of that. She was going with Scorpius. HER!
It must be surreal. How could this be real? She put her fingers to her arm to pinch herself to see if she was sleeping and
she woke up in bed with a start, sitting up ramrod straight. Her heart was beating through her chest and she took a few gasps to control her erratic breathing. Lucy was standing at the doorway, half in the doorway already, with her mouth open.
"Well, so much for waking you up sleepyhead! You're already awake. It's practically noon right now, you sure slept a long time!"
Rose blinked multiple times, stunned into silence by her rapid change of realities.
"Were you having a good dream?" asked Lucy as she came into the room and sat cross legged at the end of the bed. "You sure were smiling in your sleep."
Rose shook her head and then looked at Lucy confused for a moment. "No. It was a nightmare." She was wide awake now and horrified at what she had dreamed. Those memories were supposed to be locked away. She scratched her itchy arm.
"Oh. Alright then," Lucy said. "So, how are you feeling?"
Rose frowned for a moment before she realized what Lucy was talking about. She tried to focus on the present and the thinking made her head hurt: she noticed there was a faint pounding inside her skull. "My head!" she exclaimed.
Lucy smirked. "Yes, all you drunk folk are feeling it this morning. Seems like unlimited, free alcohol is not a good idea! Avoid Dom like the plague today. She will rip your head off and feed it to the pigeons."
Rose laid herself back down on the bed, propping her pillow a bit so she could still look at Lucy. However Lucy pulled the curtain of Rose's window up and rays of sunshine flooded the room, causing Rose to cover her eyes with her arm.
"Lucy, my head!" Rose complained, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the bright sunlight.
There was a sharp intake of breath before: "ROSE NYMPHADORA! Are you kidding me! I'm bloody having a conversation with you and you can't tell it's me!"
Rose rolled her eyes under her arm. "Blimey, sorry Molly. Fuck. It's early, and I have a hangover. . . and your hair is in a ponytail so I couldn't see the length. . . ! I only thought it was Lucy because she didn't drink last night, and I thought you did!"
Molly growled. "I suppose you're somewhat justified. . . but still! So annoying!" Molly took a breath and then said, "Lucy got called into work this morning so it's lucky she didn't drink. Not that she ever does anyway. And me and Lorcan got back surprisingly early last night, so I had more sleep than pretty much all of you combined."
"You sure you and Lorcan. . . slept?" Rose laughed from under her arm. She could just see Molly's face turn pink through the small gap in her arms she left for her eyes before Molly whacked her on her leg. "Shush! I have some questions to ask you."
"Questions?" Rose asked, confused by the change of subject.
"Yes, questions," Molly said as she reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. She looked at Rose but then did a double take.
"What did you do to your arm?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"
"On your arm thats covering your eyes, your wrist is all red."
Rose lifted her arm from her head and looked at her wrist, scratching it lazily with her other hand. "Oh! It's itchy."
"From what?"
"Not from last night. . . it wasn't red when we came home, I specifically remember that. Or itchy for that matter. Merlin," Rose said, continuing to scratch it, "it really is itchy!"
"Well stop scratching it! That's not healthy," said Molly.
Rose took her hand away and looked at her red wrist for a moment while ignoring the urge to keep scratching. She asked, "so that was the question?"
"Oh, questions, plural." Molly unfolded the sheet of paper and looked at it closely. "Okay, first question. What is your name and the place where your mum's water broke when she was prego with you?"
Rose gave Molly a funny look. "Uh. What?"
"Just answer the question," Molly insisted.
"Rose. . . Weasley, and Nymphadora is my middle name. And. . . continue? Yuck okay, well it was at the muggle liquor store in Retford, in the middle of February when the storm hit and that was the only shelter she found. . . So you needed that information why?"
"Just to make sure it was really you." Molly sighed at Rose's expression. "It's one of the remarks on the sheet. Don't ask, I think it's stupid too. Okay question two, where did you go, which building, or street or any landmark – anything you remember at all – when you and that man took the thief in?"
Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's Malfoy, isn't it."
Molly nodded. Rose frowned slightly and thought back to last night. She ignored the faint pounding in her head as she tried to recall what the hell happened.
"I know it's bad," she started slowly, still thinking, "but I still can't bring it to mind. I seriously remember almost everything that happened before the man appeared. Then it's all a blank. . . well not a blank. . . it's more fuzzy, like just beyond reach. Almost like if I try hard enough I will remember it, but I can't. . . "
"So, I'll take that as a no. Well that's the end of my questioning. Scorpius put like thirty questions down, but if you can't remember anything there really is no point for the rest of them. If anything changes though, let me know."
"Okay. . ." Rose said and then scratched her itchy wrist again.
Molly continued to sit on the bed and looked thoughtfully at Rose. "Lucy told me this morning what happened, in between frantically running everywhere to get ready for work. That's scary - I'm glad you are safe. And I can't believe you didn't wake up with all the racket. Dom even woke up and starting yelling at us."
Rose gave a little laugh. "No I definitely didn't hear a thing!"
"Yeah, oh and we have no hangover potion, that's what else I had to tell you. We really have no stocks of anything it seems. I'm making a list today for potions that Dom needs to make, when she isn't so bitchy and hungover. Stop scratching your wrist."
Rose slowly took her hand away from her very red wrist.
"Why is it so itchy?" she demanded at Molly.
"I dunno Rose. Maybe a bug bite? Or a rash? I don't study regular maladies and what not in Healing. You'd have to ask the spellcaster or the potionmaster. They both know all those things. Though don't ask Dom today, it wouldn't be worth the migraine to get something out of her."
"If it's still itchy later tonight, I'll ask them. I'll just ignore it for now."
Rose yawned and sat up in bed. "God, noon already you said. Merlin my head is pounding."
"Yeah, next time we go out I will make sure we have hangover potion beforehand," Molly remarked. "And with your headache I say either don't leave your room all day or head outside for the day. I recommend going outside, and drinking lots of water."
"She's that bad eh? You're staying here?"
"Yes, the triplets are coming over for their monthly visit and if I leave Dom alone with them, someone is really going to die."
"Why?"
"Because those three are just so. . . different, and just are, well I don't know. They haven't had a good childhood and so are rebelling against everything. I swear they are trying to blow me up with their minds or something everytime they come over. Bitchy Dom is not going to tolerate them at all, and they are not going to tolerate her. I tried telling her to leave for the afternoon but she threw a toilet brush at me before puking in the toilet."
Rose swung her legs onto the floor and put her hands in her hand. "They sound interesting. . . " She yawned again. "Man I should have a shower."
Molly giggled from the bed and pointed at Rose's legs. "Flood pants much?"
"I know, I know. Lucy told me they were hers, but I think they are Dom's."
"Probably. She's so short."
"She really is! Taking the Delacour side of things. Okay I'm gone," Rose stood up and dragged herself to the bathroom, keeping an eye out for Dominique.
The shower was good for her with the hot water loosening up her tense muscles from her flashback dream. Having that dream made her want to leave England, leave the country and travel somewhere else in the world. She vividly remembered why she gave up her wand in the first place and was very tempted to do it again and disappear into a muggle life.
She couldn't recall having such a vivid dream before. During her dream, she had felt she had been reliving that moment in her seventh year, that briefly happy moment. She tried not to dwell on it too much, or think about the event that followed about two weeks later, which was a disaster, and instead focused on the fact that she hadn't talked to Whitney in so long, and how hilarious dress robe shopping had been for them. She had just put conditioner in her hair when there was a banging on the door.
"Who the fuck takes a shower at noon?" an angry Dominique demanded as she pounded her fists against the door. "Open the door or I'll blast the bloody thing off its hinges."
Rose frantically washed out the conditioner. "Thirty seconds! I'm almost done!" she called.
"I have to use the toilet. Get. The. Hell. Out."
"Hold up one second Dom, just getting out of the shower now!"
She turned off the water as Dominique continued to beat at the door. Quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself she opened the door.
A black eyed and messy haired Dominique still in her pj's pushed past her and then slammed the door on Rose after pushing her out of the bathroom, barely missing her heels.
Rose glared at the bathroom door and then walked to her bedroom, dripping water along the way. Once in her room she snatched up her wand from the bedside table and thoughtfully tapped it against her chin before pointing it at a pair of trousers on the floor. She could do it, she just needed to concentrate.
"Accio jeans!"
The jeans gave a flop on the floor but didn't come to her hands. "This is so embarrassing," she muttered to herself. She concentrated more this time, clearing her mind, and then tried again. "Accio jeans!"
Luckily it worked and her trousers came flying to her. She breathed a sigh of relief and put them on, then rummaged in her very empty drawer for a shirt.
After she was dressed and had brushed out her wet hair, braiding it into a French braid, she walked to the kitchen to answer the call of her hungry stomach.
But first she came upon the sight of Dominique on the floor of the living room. She was lying on her stomach with her legs and arms spread wide like a starfish. Her head was pressed directly into the floor and she wasn't moving. Rose almost burst out laughing but she managed to hold it in as she joined Molly behind the kitchen counter, looking at Dominique.
"You know," Molly said, "she wouldn't have blasted the bathroom door down; I have her wand."
"Well, I was almost done anyway. And I didn't see you there telling her to shut up."
"I don't want to get on her bad side already. I'm going to have to deal with her for the next few hours."
"If she doesn't suffocate herself first."
"Not too worried. She'd just puke me back up afterwards; she hasn't kept any food down this morning."
Dominique groaned. "Stop talking about me. I can bloody hear you, you two blubbering-nitwits!"
Rose was finally overcome by the giggles and Molly joined her.
Dominique groaned again, with her face still pressed into the floor. "Why the hell do muggles drink alcohol? If this is what they deal with, are they all insane? Hangovers are horrible. . . "
"Not everyone is as privileged to have Hangover Potions, Dom. They probably deal with it better than you do though," Molly said.
"Not all the time," Rose whispered to Molly.
"Shut up, the two of you. You're making my headache and stomachache worse."
Molly shrugged her shoulders at Rose and noticed Rose's wrist.
"Oi, stop scratching your wrist!" Molly whispered, grabbing Rose's hand to stop it.
"I didn't even realise it that time, shit," mumbled Rose, inspecting her wrist and all the scratch marks on it.
"Well, try to stop; your wrist is going to be very red and tender for a bit. And - Oh! I just remembered, you got some letters this morning," exclaimed Molly as she walked to the entrance to get them and then handed them to Rose.
"Oh? Who from?" she asked as she stared at them. One was a large folder with her name written very fancily in ink across the front. The other was just a plain white envelope.
"Well the envelope was from Louis's owl, I believe. So I'm guessing that one was him, unless someone else borrowed his owl."
Rose's eyes got wide. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," she chanted as she tore it open and read it frantically. She hit her hand against her forehead and handed the letter to Molly. Molly read with it a smile.
Dear the lovely, trying to be sneaky Rose Nymphadora Weasley.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Did you really think it would escape my notice that Albus gave you your wand back? Silly, silly. What a weak person he is, I told you he isn't worthy over me. I expect you before the next weekend to come clean my room. Sucks doesn't it, to have been outwitted? Nothing escapes the dashingly intelligent Louis Gideon Weasley, aka the Greatest Person on Earth, as he is now known to you. Don't make me write your parents.
Cheers, and enjoy your last free Sunday afternoon for a long time.
"How the hell did he find out?" grumbed Rose.
Molly laughed. "Ooh Louis. So full of himself, goodness that kid is absolutely hilarious."
Rose huffed angrily, folding the letter back in the envelope. "Yes. . . so. . . freakin. . . hilarious. . . "
Dominique growled and then yelled at the two of them, "HOLY HELL. Shut up already. Who give a rat's ass about my annoying goob of a brother anyways. He should just go jump in a lake, with you two if you don't shut it."
"What's in the folder?" Molly asked with a nod of her head.
"Not sure yet. . . " Rose said as she started opening it. Inside were a bunch of papers and she pulled them out and looked at them confusingly for a moment.
"Uhh, I wonder if these got sent to me by accident. . . ?" she said as she flicked through them. It seemed to be a complete biography of one Randy Canwood, complete with a picture and all of his personal information.
"Err, do you know Randy. . . Canwood?" Molly asked as she stared at the pages with Rose.
"I'm pretty sure I don't, doesn't ring a bell."
"Merlin, look at all the information. Age, birthday, height, weight," Molly stated as she moved her finger down he page. "Marital status, family, physical features, education. . . What the heck? Why did this get sent to you?"
Rose looked at the folder again and stared at her name on the front. "I. . . I don't know. I mean, it has my name on the front?"
"Oh my god, look at the second page, and third! He has two pages of criminal activity. That is insane!"
Rose's eyes widened as she read some of them: drug trafficking, break and enter multiple times, assaulting an officer of law. . .
"Why on earth did I end up with this?" she said.
"SHUT UP!" Dominique screamed again, finally flipping over to her back she grabbed the pillow beside her and attempted to throw it at the two girls, but it only made it to the couch. Dom groaned loudly and then turned her attention to the ceiling in almost the exact same position as before, legs and arms still spread out like a starfish.
Rose sighed and whispered to Molly, "well we can figure it out later. I'm going to go out for a bit for fresh air."
Molly nodded and so Rose took her letter and the folder and put them in her room for now. She went back to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich to take with her, filled up her water bottle, and grabbed some fruit.
Quietly without disturbing Dominique, she opened the door and stepped out of the flat. She made her way downstairs and out into the lobby. She had just reached the glass doors to get outside when she came face to face with three girls, all very much shorter than her, all who had black hair and multiple piercings on their face. They stared intensly at Rose with their black-lined dark eyes. Rose, who was in their path, stepped to the side and let them go by. They walked by quietly without saying anything. Rose would bet a few fingers that these were the triplets Molly had referred to.
Rose stood and watched them use the appartment telephone by the elevators to call the her cousins' apartment, and then watched the door get buzzed open for them. As soon as they were gone did Rose shake herself and head outside.
She spent the afternoon sitting in the small park by her cousin's apartment reading her old sixth year charms textbook while slowly eating her way through her lunch. The sun shone warmly on her and when she got tired of sitting on the bench she moved to the grass. August was almost over and so she wanted to enjoy the sun for as long as possible, even taking a nap in the heat when she got bored of reading.
The rumbling of her stomach woke her a few hours later, along with the realisation that she was scratching her wrist again. It was still irritating her constantly, but she continued to try to ignore it and the overwhelming urge to scratch.
Brushing off a few ants, she made her way back to the apartment and went to the top floor after she entered the code her cousin's gave her the week previously.
Nobody was in sight, but she followed her nose to the kitchen and saw supper cooking on the stove. She deposited her bag in her room, ignoring the letters still on her bed before returning to the kitchen and giving the sauce for the pasta a stir on the stove.
She heard footsteps and turned around to see Molly. "I burnt myself," Molly said as she wrapped a bandaid around her finger. "How was the park?"
"Pretty quiet," Rose said and let Molly take over with the cooking. "Where's Dom?"
"Finally sleeping! Goodness I just about chucked her out of the window this afternoon, she was an absolute nightmare. One of the girls, Zoey, actually threw her teacup at her. It took everything in me not to laugh, it was absolutely hilarious. She totally deserved it."
"How old are the girls? I passed them on the way up, I think, and I honestly couldn't tell."
"They are fifteen, and one of them is a witch, couldn't tell you which one, but she would have been in first year when you were in sixth, I believe."
"Oh, yeah? None of them looked familiar at all."
"Well, their natural hair colour is brown. She probably would have looked way different back then."
"True that," Rose said. "Anything else exciting happen?"
"Scorpius flooed over, but I told him to leave you alone. And you got another letter, actually. It's by the phone. The envelope is black, which I find slightly weird but I guess some people do prefer the unconventional."
Rose nodded and walked over to the phone. The black letter was noticeable against the wooden table and she stared curiously at the letter before she felt her wrist twinge in pain.
"Holy hell. . . " she said, bending over and cradling her wrist. She was then overcome with another huge urge to scratch her wrist, an insane urge. Even though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't resist maniacally scratching it again. Rose wouldn't be surprised if she saw blood soon.
She reached out to grab the letter and felt a weird sensation in her wrist as her hand got closer, but didn't think anything of it.
Her fingers touched the letter and she felt a jolt of electricity run up her body. Instantly her wrist felt as it was on fire. Pain, intense concentrated pain was on her wrist, no, inside her wrist. She jumped backwards in shock and hit the wall opposite her as she fell to her knees and curled her hand into her, trying to stem the pain.
"Rose, are you okay?" exclaimed Molly as she ran over to see what the hell happened.
"ARRGGGHH, my wrist, my wrist! HOLY FUCKING HELL," yelled Rose and she leaned forward and touched her forehead to the ground, taking large deep breaths. But it wasn't over yet. The pain was just getting started.
She felt her skin bubbling and lifted herself up to hold her hand out in front of her, staring at it. The skin around her wrist was no longer red; it was black and it was bubbling. Rose's fingers curling in pain still but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight in front of her. Molly was frozen in place staring at her wrist too. Her wrist expanded, and then decreased in size, all the while making gross contusions of her skin.
The pain got worse and Rose cradled her wrist to her again, leaning over it and counting numbers to try to stop focusing on it.
She got to 28 when the pain suddenly stopped.
Rose slowly lifted her wrist away from her body, and stared at it.
On her wrist was a thin red bracelet. It felt like it was metal as it was cold on her skin. Her wrist under it was more or less back to its normal colour, albeit a bit red and sensitive. Rose hesitantly touched the bracelet with her finger and it turned black. She felt a shudder run through her body. She tried to pull it off but as soon as it was over her wrist, her arm started tingling and so she didn't touch it again.
"Did that come from your skin?" Molly gasped, staring in shock at what just happened.
Rose noticed the small engraving on it and it sparked a hidden memory in her mind. She didn't say anything but lunged for the black envelope and ripped it open with shaking hands. She collapsed on the floor as she pulled out a red bandana and a letter. She read with horror at what the it contained:
Welcome to the Organisation, Rose Weasley.
You will have received earlier today a letter containing all the details of your target. This letter is just to serve as a reminder of the contract you signed the previous night.
There is no way to get out of the binding on you, so please don't waste our time and try. Have fun with the blood bracelet.
You will find you have your memories back now.
Happy Hunting,
The Reds Inconnu
She felt movement in her mind, and the previously absent voices started awake again.
You are the largest idiot in London at this moment, Marta said to her.
"Oh my god. . . " breathed Rose as the rush of memories instantly filled her mind. "Oh. My. God."
x-x-x-x-x